Event Schedule for 2009 Sprint Cup Series Champion's Week: As the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season nears conclusion – the finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway just a few weeks away – 2009 Champion’s Week celebrations have taken shape. Las Vegas, Nev., is the host city for this year’s Champion’s Week festivities, which culminates on Friday, Dec. 4 with the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards Ceremony at Wynn Las Vegas. This year, SPEED will televise the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards Ceremony live with two re-airs, from 9:00pm/et - 1:00am/et. It will re-air from 1:00-5:00am/et, on Saturday, Dec. 5, and from 1:00-5:00pm/et, on Sunday, Dec. 6. The awards ceremony is the series champion’s formal celebration.

“With the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards Ceremony moving from New York to Las Vegas this year, there continues to be a great deal of buzz about how things are going to be different,” said SPEED President Hunter Nickell. “So, when the opportunity came for SPEED to be the television home for the event, it was an easy ‘yes’ from us.

“SPEED now opens the year with the Gatorade Duel at Daytona, carries it through the NASCAR Sprint Cup All-Star Race and NASCAR Hall of Fame ceremonies in the spring and wraps it up with the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards Ceremony in Las Vegas without missing a single week of coverage.”

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards Ceremony can also be heard on Sirius NASCAR Radio (SIRIUS channel 128 and XM channel 128 with the "Best of SIRIUS"), and on MRN Radio. Though the awards ceremony is the traditional focal point, a full roster of exciting events is planned for this year’s Champion’s Week, many with fan involvement.

Below is a quick synopsis:

Wednesday, Dec. 2 – Chasers for Charity Fanfest at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. This event includes a free-admission fan event, plus a charity roast of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion. For the Fanfest, gates open at 9 a.m. Access to the speedway’s Neon Garage begins at 11 a.m. PT. This portion of the event includes a red-carpet walk by the champion and the other 2009 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers, car displays, live music, reduced-price concessions and a raffle drawing.
The Charity Roast takes place in the speedway’s Blackjack Club, located in the infield media center. Doors open at 1:30 p.m. PT. The roast includes a private reception with the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion and Chase participants, plus reserved seats and parking. It will be shown on closed-circuit television in the Neon Garage. Due to space considerations, it’s limited to the first 300 people who respond. Cost is a $250 tax-deductible donation to Speedway Children’s Charities. Visit www.lvms.com for more information.

Thursday, Dec. 3 – 2009 NASCAR NMPA Myers Brothers Awards in the Venetian Showroom at The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino. Annual recognition of series award winners, which includes drivers, crew members, teams and industry icons. From 1:00-2:30pm/pt. Media-only availability for top-12 drivers takes place from noon until 12:45pm/pt. Media-only availability for certain award winners follows immediately after the event.

Thursday, Dec. 3 – Top 12 Victory Lap Parade. All 12 Chase participants will drive a lap in their show cars on Las Vegas Blvd., or “The Strip.” It begins at 3:30pm/pt, at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino, proceeding north to Spring Mountain Road before returning to MGM. Includes a pit stop and a “burnout” at the Spring Mountain Rd. intersection and ends at 4:00pm/pt.

Friday, Dec. 4 – 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards Ceremony at Wynn Las Vegas, from 6:00-9:40pm/pt.

This year’s awards ceremony marks the first time in the sport’s history that fans will join drivers, team owners and industry leaders in celebrating the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion. Approximately 300 tickets are available to fans, which are being distributed by tracks, NASCAR partners, top-12 drivers and teams through various fan promotions.(NASCAR)(11-10-2009)

TELEVISION COVERAGE: Steve Byrnes and Jeff Hammond will host SPEED’s coverage of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards Ceremony, with Mike Joy and Krista Voda introducing the drivers and other award winners during the ceremonies. SPEED will open NASCAR Champion’s Week with special episodes of NASCAR Race Hub, celebrating each of NASCAR’s three national touring series on separate nights. On Friday, Dec. 4, SPEED will offer a day of NASCAR programming with a series of four special shows, entitled NASCAR Best of ’09, beginning at 5:00pm/et.

NASCAR Champions Week television schedule (subject to change):

• Monday, Nov. 30 – NASCAR Race Hub celebrates the 2009 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion (7:30 p.m. ET)

• Tuesday, Dec. 1 – NASCAR Race Hub celebrates the 2009 NASCAR Nationwide Series champion (7:30 p.m. ET)

• Wednesday, Dec. 2 – NASCAR Race Hub celebrates the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion (7:30 p.m. ET)

• Thursday, Dec. 3 – NASCAR Race Hub celebrates the 2009 NASCAR race season and includes coverage of the Top 12 Victory Lap Parade and other events from Las Vegas Champion’s Week leading up to the Awards Ceremony (7:30 p.m. ET)

• Friday, Dec. 4 – NASCAR Best of ’09 Volume I (5 p.m. ET)

• Friday, Dec. 4 – NASCAR Best of ’09 Volume II (5:30 p.m. ET)

• Friday, Dec. 4 – NASCAR Best of ’09 Volume III (6 p.m. ET)

• Friday, Dec. 4 – NASCAR Best of ’09 Volume IV (6:30 p.m. ET)

• Friday, Dec. 4 – NASCAR Nationwide Series & Camping World Truck Series Awards Ceremony from Miami (7 p.m. ET, taped)

• Friday, Dec. 4 – NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards Ceremony from the Wynn Las Vegas (9 p.m. ET, live)

NASCAR Touring And Weekly Series Champions Week Underway: Champions Week is underway in the center of NASCAR racing as six 2009 series champions converge on the Charlotte area for a week of activities leading up to the NASCAR Touring Series Awards Gala and NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Awards Banquet.
NASCAR champions Jason Bowles (Camping World Series West), George Brunnhoelzl III (Whelen Southern Modified Tour), Donny Lia (Whelen Modified Tour, Philip Morris (Whelen All-American Series), Andrew Ranger (Canadian Tire Series presented by Mobil 1) and Ryan Truex (Camping World Series East) will be honored at the end of the week during awards ceremonies at the Concord Convention Center.
Tuesday will see the six champions participate in an extensive media tour in the Charlotte area. The day will start with local television and radio appearances followed by the Second Annual NASCAR Toyota Champions/Media Go-Kart Showdown presented by Sirius XM Radio at Victory Lane Karting. The Sirius NASCAR Radio show “Tradin’ Paint” will broadcast live from the event. Following the karting challenge, the champions will depart for appearances at Motor Racing Network (MRN) and Performance Racing Network (PRN). The day will conclude with a photo shoot at the under-construction NASCAR Hall of Fame and a VIP dinner at the Sam Bass Gallery.
The rest of the week’s activities will be highlighted by the Jim Hunter Golf Invitational on Wednesday, the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series State Champions Dinner on Thursday and the Driver Briefings Friday morning. The week will then close with a pair of banquets. The NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Awards Banquet will take place Friday evening at the Concord Convention Center with track and state champions to be honored along with Morris, the national champion. The NASCAR Touring Series Awards Gala, which will honor the championship seasons of Bowles, Brunnhoelzl, Lia, Ranger and Truex, will be held at the same venue on Saturday evening. Both banquets will be streamed live online at nascarhometracks.com.(NASCAR PR)(11-10-2009)

Numerous Chances For Fans To Score Seats Awards Ceremony In Las Vegas: The race is on for fans to claim tickets to attend the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards Ceremony in Las Vegas – a NASCAR first – and the checkered flag isn’t far away for some of those opportunities. This year’s awards ceremony, scheduled for Friday, Dec. 4 at the Wynn Las Vegas, marks the first time in the sport’s history that fans will join drivers, team owners and industry leaders in celebrating the NASCAR Sprint Cup champion.

Approximately 300 tickets are available for fans, tracks, NASCAR partners and top-12 drivers and teams are distributing them through a variety of promotions. Thus far, 14 track operators, plus several NASCAR partners and top-12 drivers are participating in the 2009 fan ticket initiative.

The tracks include Daytona International Speedway, Infineon Raceway, Phoenix International Raceway, Richmond International Raceway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Kansas Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Michigan International Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway, Texas Motor Speedway, Watkins Glen International and Kansas Speedway.

Participating NASCAR partners, to date, are Coors Light, Bank of America, Kellogg’s, Ford, Ask.com and The NASCAR Foundation.

Participating drivers, to date, are Jimmie Johnson, Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch and Denny Hamlin.

Several fans already have scored some of the coveted tickets, thanks to earlier contests and charitable good works:
* During an Oct. 21 event for Talladega Superspeedway, Kurt Busch drew the winning names of two Las Vegas-based, Talladega season-ticket-holders, then called them with the good news.

Multiple ticket opportunities still exist, however. So sharpen a pencil, prime your keyboard and peruse the list below. One big plus: Track season-ticket-holders already may be entered in their track’s particular contest or promotion:
* Bristol Motor Speedway will give four awards ceremony tickets to a selected fan who has attended every NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Bristol since the track’s 1961 opening (open to current ticket-holders).
* Daytona International Speedway is using two different promotions involving two sets of two tickets. Fans should visit www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com to register for both random drawings.
* Indianapolis Motor Speedway also is using two promotions involving two sets of two tickets. One is well on its way; interested fans were to visit IMS’s administrative lobby on Oct. 14 to register to win. For the second promotion, fans should visit the track’s web site, www.brickyard.com, to complete an online registration form. Note: You can’t win both promotions.
* Infineon Raceway is hosting a sealed bid auction for two awards ceremony tickets. The auction will benefit Speedway Children’s Charities. Visit www.infineonraceway.com for more information.
* Kansas Speedway will use four tickets as part of an enter-to-win contest. Each fan winner will receive two tickets, plus spending money, airfare and hotel. Visit www.racintoday.com for more information.
* Las Vegas Motor Speedway will use four tickets for its promotion. Visit www.lvms.com for more information.
* Lowe’s Motor Speedway will use four tickets as a Speedway Club Members auction item, with proceeds benefitting Speedway Children’s Charities. Visit www.lowesmotorspeedway.com for more information.
* Michigan International Speedway’s two tickets will be distributed via a drawing. Included is a trip to Las Vegas. Season-ticket-holders who renew are automatically entered in the drawing. Visit www.mispeedway.com for more information.
* New Hampshire Motor Speedway’s promotion was a part of its ongoing “FansFirst” initiative. Anyone who purchased tickets for the Sylvania 300 on Sept. 20 was eligible to win a trip to Las Vegas – airfare, lodging, $1,000 in spending money and two tickets to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards Ceremony.
* Phoenix International Raceway is using two fan tickets as part of a ticket-purchase promotion. Visit www.phoenixraceway.com for more information.
* Richmond International Raceway will reward one fan with two tickets, but if you want their seats, be prepared to do a little work. Fans must submit a video describing why they should be selected as Richmond’s Fan Reporter in Las Vegas, plus include their most memorable moment at the track. Visit www.rir.com for more information.
* Texas Motor Speedway is using two pairs of two tickets in separate promotions. One pair will be part of a live auction with proceeds benefitting the Texas Chapter of Speedway Children’s Charities. Fans must register for a chance to win the other pair of tickets. Visit www.texasmotorspeedway.com for more information.
* Watkins Glen International is using a pair of tickets to reward a longtime fan of the track. Along with tickets to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards Ceremony, the winner will receive a trip to Las Vegas, which includes airfare, lodging and rental car expenses. Visit www.theglen.com for more information.

Along with tracks, the following drivers and team are pitching in to help fans attend the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards Ceremony:

Coors Light, Bank of America, The NASCAR Foundation, Ask.com and Ford all are sponsoring fan-ticket programs for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards Ceremony. Visit those entities’ web sites for more information:

* Coors Light (Brookshire’s Food & Pharmacy) – Two tickets awarded as part of the company’s retail program around the Dickies 500 race weekend at Texas Motor Speedway.
* Ford “I’m Driving One” Online Sweepstakes – One grand-prize winner (and one guest) receives a 2010 Ford Taurus, plus an Ultimate NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion’s Week Experience, including an all-expense-paid trip to Las Vegas, two tickets to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards Ceremony, and special recognition during the NASCAR After the Lap presented by Tissot program. Visit www.imdrivingone.com for more information.
* Bank of America (NASCAR RacePoints) – Two Champion’s Week VIP packages were made available for redemption that included tickets and access to the awards ceremony. Visit http://www.nascarracepoints.com for more information on the NASCAR RacePoints program.
* Ask.com NASCAR Trivia Challenge – Two tickets to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards Ceremony to the winner of the Ask.com NASCAR Trivia Challenge
* The NASCAR Foundation – Ten tickets will be auctioned as part of the Foundation’s Champion’s Week package fundraiser. The auction is from Nov. 9-23 and will be hosted on NASCAR.COM. Visit www.NASCAR.COM/foundation for more information.

LVMS to host fan, charity event during NASCAR Champion’s Week: Las Vegas Motor Speedway and NASCAR are bringing Champion’s Week to the race fans. Speedway and NASCAR officials have created the Chasers for Charity Fanfest to be held Dec. 2 in the Neon Garage and Blackjack Club at LVMS. The event will include a free-admission fan event throughout the afternoon as well as a charity roast of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion. The fanfest will serve as the kickoff for NASCAR’s inaugural Champion’s Week in Las Vegas.
“One of the key elements to bringing NASCAR Champion’s Week to Las Vegas was creating an event for race fans,” said LVMS president Chris Powell. “This event will bring the drivers and the fans closer together and raise money for charity in the process. We’re very appreciative of NASCAR’s efforts to make this a special fan event that we hope becomes a tradition during Champion’s Week.”
The event will consist of a charity roast of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion. The fanfest will feature appearances by the champion as well as drivers in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. The charity portion of the event will begin with a procession of the Chase drivers and the champion through the Neon Garage. A reception in the speedway media center will follow the procession, with credentialed fans having an opportunity to mingle with the drivers. The event will culminate with the roast in the Blackjack Club. Admission to the reception and roast is $250 per person and will be limited to the first 300 people due to space limitations. Proceeds from the event will benefit Speedway Children’s Charities.
The fanfest will allow fans free admission to the Neon Garage beginning at 11:00am on Wednesday, Dec. 2. Live entertainment and car displays will entertain race fans for the early part of the event. At approximately 2:00pm, the Chase for the Sprint Cup drivers and the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion will arrive and walk a red carpet through the Neon Garage. The roast will be shown via closed-circuit television throughout the Neon Garage. Over the next few weeks, the speedway will be announcing more elements of this inaugural event. To purchase tickets to the roast, go to lvms.com or call 1-800-644-4444.(LVMS)(10-19-2009)

300 Awards Ceremony Tix allocated to teams for fans: For the first time in NASCAR history, fans will have the opportunity to join drivers, team owners and industry leaders to celebrate the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion. This year’s awards ceremony is scheduled to be held at Wynn Las Vegas on Friday, Dec. 4, 2009.
Approximately 300 tickets will be made available to the top 12 teams and drivers, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series track operators and NASCAR partners to utilize for fan promotions. Fans will make up about 25% of the audience as they join drivers, team owners and industry officials for the awards ceremony. The available tickets will be used as part of sweepstakes, contests or promotions.
“Making tickets available provides the teams, tracks and partners a truly unique opportunity to reach out to the fans like never before,” said NASCAR CMO Steve Phelps. “We’re looking forward to seeing creative promotions for the limited number of tickets. We’ve worked very hard over the past four months to iron out details for the awards ceremony and the fan element was top priority.”
In coming weeks there will be additional announcements about the events planned for “Champion’s Week” in Las Vegas. Specifically, more details will be provided about the Top 12 Victory Lap Parade, entertainment and other fan event opportunities.(NASCAR)(9-15-2009)

NASCAR officially moves Cup banquet to Vegas; Nationwide and Truck Banquets combined: UPDATE: Fan tickets? TV coverage? NASCAR announced that Las Vegas formally becomes the “Official Host City of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion’s Week.” NASCAR’s annual NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards Ceremony will be held at the Wynn Las Vegas on Friday, Dec. 4, 2009. The move to Las Vegas provides for greater flexibility for driver and fan events. The NASCAR Nationwide Series and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series events will be combined and held at the Loews Miami Beach on Monday, Nov. 23. The Grand-Am Rolex Series banquet will be held at the Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, Fla. on Monday, Oct. 12. NASCAR had held the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event in New York City every year since 1981. After exploring several options, NASCAR formed a partnership with Las Vegas Events, making the change of venue a reality. "I can’t say enough about the warm reception from Las Vegas,” said NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France. “Las Vegas really made it a priority to get the awards ceremony moved there. We were able to come to an agreement on reasonable room blocks, banquet facilities, and approvals to hold fan activities on the famous Las Vegas Strip." Activities being planned for the days leading up to the Awards Ceremony include the return of the “Victory Lap,” a procession of the top 10 NSCS drivers in their race cars, the NASCAR NMPA Myers Brothers Media Luncheon, the Pit Stop Tour and the NASCAR Street Tour to include stock cars and mobile marketing units placed throughout the city. The awards ceremony for the NASCAR Nationwide Series and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will be consolidated in south Florida. This is designed to provide another great venue for the ceremony as well as help save NNS teams from making an additional trip following the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The top-five finishers from the NNS and NCWTS will be honored at the combined banquet celebration.(NASCAR PR)(4-23-2009)
UPDATE: NASCAR will move its Sprint Cup banquet from New York City to Las Vegas, and now it needs to decide what to do with the banquet at the Wynn Las Vegas, which was announced as the site for the 2009 awards ceremony on Thursday. Does it sell tickets to fans, as the National Hockey League is doing with its postseason awards ceremony in Las Vegas? Or does it keep it an invitation-only affair as it was during the banquet's 28 years in New York. "That decision hasn't been made yet," NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said Thursday. "That will be decided in the near future. But the Wynn hotel provides us a lot more flexibility than we had in the past. There are going to be some really good options to take a look at, including a fan element at the banquet. That hasn't been finalized yet." Poston declined to comment on whether NASCAR is getting paid to bring the banquet to Las Vegas. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported last month that the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority would pay NASCAR between $500,000 and $1 million for each year of the contract, which is believed to be for three years. Poston said NASCAR is talking with ABC/ESPN and Speed to determine who will televise that banquet. ESPN has the Nationwide contract, and Speed has the Truck contract.(Scene Daily)(4-24-2009)

Las Vegas lands NASCAR's Sprint Cup banquet: NASCAR and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority have reached an agreement in principle to bring the Sprint Cup banquet, awards ceremony and postseason celebration to Las Vegas in the first week of December. LVCVA president Rossi Ralenkotter confirmed the tentative agreement to move the annual event from downtown New York, where it has been held for the past 27 years, and make it a citywide event centered on the Strip. Some deal points still need to be finalized," Ralenkotter said Thursday. The sides have yet to settle the length of the contract; Ralenkotter wants a deal of three to five years. Also to be determined is the degree to which Las Vegas will be included in advertising and media references to the event. The LVCVA would pay NASCAR between $500,000 and $1 million for each year of the contract, Ralenkotter said. NASCAR has the option of selecting the venue for the banquet, likely to be Dec. 4. A spokesman for NASCAR, Ramsey Poston, said "nothing's been finalized" about this year's banquet plans. The event honors the top 10 drivers from the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. Talks between NASCAR officials and Ralenkotter began two years ago, with Ralenkotter attending the 2007 banquet. Negotiations picked up in the past two months. NASCAR moved its banquet from Daytona Beach, Fla., to New York in 1981 in part to establish a Madison Avenue presence. The move was highly successful, helping to attract a number of Fortune 500 sponsors, including Home Depot, Dupont and Sprint Nextel, to the sport. But high-priced hotel rooms in Manhattan and often harsh winter weather created problems for racers, sponsors and media traveling to the five-day event. Last year the "Victory Lap" parade around midtown with the top-10 Cup cars and drivers was canceled because it caused traffic congestion. NASCAR would be the second major professional sport to shift its awards ceremony to Las Vegas this year. Ralenkotter negotiated a three-year deal to bring the NHL awards to the Palms on June 18.(Las Vegas Review-Journal)(4-3-2009)

No Parade in NYC in 2008: For the last four years, NASCAR has staged a “victory lap” in the middle of Manhattan a couple of days prior to its Cup awards banquet. It was an incredible sight for some – fans lined the sidewalks to see the top 10 Cup drivers wheel their cars on the streets around and about the Times Square area. “After several years, it’s a wrap,” NASCAR Vice President Jim Hunter said Friday. “I think we needed something new. We’re doing some things, some additional promotions that we partnered up with Sprint. There’s going to be billboards, additional signage, fan participation and those kind of things. It’s going to be good.” The parade of stock cars took an incredible amount of planning and cost, and NASCAR and Sprint are looking at other ways to engage fans during its championship week. Plans are still being finalized. “There’s no way you could realize the work that our people put in to doing a parade in New York,” Hunter said. “When you think of normal traffic in New York, there’s nothing normal about it. We’ll do some other things.”
The Sprint Cup banquet this year is scheduled for Dec. 5, and both NASCAR and Sprint officials said the absence of the lap around the city won’t mean NASCAR won’t have a New York presence during that week. “We are committed to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion’s Week and will continue to ensure it will be a highlight on the calendar,” said Steve Gaffney, director of sports and entertainment marketing for Sprint. “In conjunction with NASCAR, we are always looking for ways to improve activities and keep them fresh for the fans. We hope to have some final decisions in the near future.”
Hunter also reiterated that this was not a sign that NASCAR wasn’t committed to staging its end-of-year celebration in the nation’s biggest city. “Our fans responded very well [to the victory lap],” Hunter said. “The crowd grew over the years. More and more people were aware of when we were in New York as a result of the parade. ... These new programs and having Sprint partnered up with us will make a big difference. What we’re trying to do is grow the base in New York. It’s a fitting end to the season, that time of year in New York.”(SceneDaily)(9-14-2008)